Poni Hoax: Images of Sigrid

Disco is making its comeback, but beneath all the hype of the disposable return-to-kitsch bands everywhere are those who would like to remind us of the darker (and in some cases punkier) possibilities, forming a kind of poppier death-disco that appropriately owes a debt to both Italo pioneers and, as the touchstone for any band featuring a bearded macabre singer, Nick Cave. Poni Hoax’s latest, Images of Sigrid, fits in well with Black Strobe’s Burn Your Own Church, both featuring the gothic stylings of a band with house sensibilities.

Sigrid wears these style divergences on its sleeve, as the punky rave up “Pretty Tall Girls” sits side-by-side with the funky disco of “Antibodies”. One of the best songs on the album, “Antibodies” glistens with stuttering synths and a melancholy piano-laden chorus. All the while, Vincent Taeger’s punchy, acoustic drums bring a heart-attack immediacy to singer Nicolas Ker’s frantic baritone. Sometimes, the misery mires down the groove, as on the sullen ho-hum of opening track “The Paper Bride”. These moments are more than made up for by the pure bliss of a song like “You’re Gonna Miss My Love” which, like the album, is not to be missed.